Forum Discussion

bigred5's avatar
bigred5
Settling in
4 days ago

Is it normal for Virgin to fail to match their own renewal quote?

With contract coming to an end, I had a renewal offer from Virgin which I was happy to accept, pending discussion with my partner. Couple of days later, I log back in and the offer had completely changed.

Contacted retentions and said I'd happily stay at the price previously offered but they couldn't match it which I find to be really bad service. So, I am now leaving Virgin instead. Is it normal for Virgin to throw away customers like this?

6 Replies

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    Yes, it's quite common for an offered price not to be maintained if it's not taken up immediately. 

    • bigred5's avatar
      bigred5
      Settling in

      And they just let a customer go instead? They were happy to keep me at that price but because I didn't jump on it there and then they'd rather I just leave them?

      • Adduxi's avatar
        Adduxi
        Very Insightful Person
        bigred5 wrote:

        And they just let a customer go instead?

        Yes, they would.  Churn is quite normal in the world of ISP's, VM is no different.  If you can get a deal, take it.  Otherwise leave and go elsewhere if it is a better deal.  The only thing for some people, and even that is diminishing, is the tie to a VM mailbox.  These are deleted 90 days after Contract termination.  As VM have not given new users a mailbox for close on 3 years now, that "tie in" is slowly disappearing.

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person

    Over the past 6 to 8 weeks I've had various renewal offers shown in MVM.  The latest is a 'final offer' and it's £15 a month more than the last offer shown in MVM.  My current discounted pricing isn't due to end until November so no doubt I will receive more offers.

    VM's actual prices can vary on a day to day basis, and agent to agent basis. I know it sounds odd, but agents are given a set amount of allowances to offer at varying price points, and also dependant upon department. Offers made via MVM aren't available to the webteam, retentions or normal telephone agents.

    If agents have used up their quota of lowest prices for the day or week, then they wouldn't be able to offer say the Mega Volt bundle for £100, but if the next agent hadn't reached their quota then they would be able to offer that price point, or possibly even lower.  It's also possible that one of the retention teams may be "trialling" a price point not available to other teams.  

    To be honest if you are fairly happy with a  quoted price whilst on the phone with the agent (or need to confirm it first with say your partner) then accept it as it probably won't be available again.  You can then take advantage of the 14 day distance selling window should you change your mind and wish to reject that offer. You would then go back to your original pricing, even if it was the out of contract price,  and package (or nearest equivalent) and then have the option of either cancelling or renegotiating.

    You might receive contact from the 'winback team' (outbound retentions) with a better offer now that you've placed your cancellation request, however that's not guaranteed, and won't happen if you've opted out of marketing.  To check this I suggest signing into MVM and checking under Account Settings > Marketing & Contact Preferences.  

    Under the Marketing Consent sub heading is a box that reads, 'Sounds good! Keep me up to date' Make sure that the box next to it has a tick in it, otherwise you definitely won't receive a callback. If you do need to update those preferences be sure to click on Save Changes.

  • It's mad as I'm an o2 customer too and I've only stayed with them due to the Volt benefits. I'm out of contract on that as well so I'll be moving from them too. All for the sake of a few quid. What an unserious company.

    • jpeg1's avatar
      jpeg1
      Alessandro Volta

      You'll find that other suppliers have similar package deals for data and phones.